In my September “rant,” I presented a script for testing dual-core processors. At the end of the article I quipped, “Of course by the time I get this coded, quad-core processors will be ready for testing.” Of course, I knew that the dual-cores were just hitting the market and quad-cores were due some time in 2007.
I am told the universe works in mysterious ways, and by some strange fortune, two dual-socket, quad-core Xeon nodes and some Infiniband HBA’s showed up at my doorstep in the beginning of September. (Keep in mind I write my columns about 2 months before the publication date of each issue). I would have two weeks to test and experiment with sixteen cores!
Not that I’m the bragging type, but I told the suitably-impressed delivery person, “You know I’m the first person in the neighborhood to get my hands on these new Intel quad-core Xeons.” Later in the day, my wife was equally impressed as she asked, “What is that noise in the basement, sounds like lots of fans or something.” In my best proud father voice I replied, “What you hear is two 1U cluster nodes, each with two quad-core Xeons, and 8 GB of memory grinding away on some benchmarks. These babies are brand new, I’m one of the select few that has early access to this hardware. I can’t talk about the performance until after November. Hush-hush you know.” “Just close the basement door when you’re running those things, Mr….
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